Camille Mojica Rey

Camille Mojica Rey, Ph.D., is a freelance writer with more than 17 years of experience in journalism and science communication. Camille specializes in the translation of medical science for lay audiences and began writing about the business of biotech in 2016. The subject hits close to home: her husband, a Silicon Valley biotech veteran, now works as a scientist at an Austin-based company. Camille earned a B.A. in Biology from the University of Texas at Austin, a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and a certificate in Science Communication from UC Santa Cruz. She has worked for major academic medical centers, including UC San Francisco and Stanford University. She has also worked for the San Jose Mercury News and Latina magazine. Her freelance work has appeared on CNN.com, in Science magazine, and on NPR's Latino USA. Starting in 2017, Camille began teaching writing workshops and facilitating writing retreats for academic and industry scientists.

To ensure that future leaders will be up to the challenges they will face, pharma companies are pursuing unique programs focused on problem-solving — sometimes sending employees to developing countries where they must tackle real-world problems.

Women in leadership roles in the biopharma industry say it is imperative that the industry’s gender gap problem be addressed — by both men and women. Because, if the current trend of women leaving the industry continues, this problem will become a worker-shortage problem and reduce innovation that is vital for industry growth.

Former Big Pharma employees are helping startups go further in the drug development process, and in return, small companies are offering those with Big Pharma experience a chance to see what it’s like to have a large impact on the trajectory of a small company.

Tawni Koutchesfahani, director of manufacturing strategy at Relypsa, says pharmaceutical manufacturing must diversify if it is to thrive. That means the recruitment and retention of more women and more millennials.

Biopharma startups are enjoying a window of opportunity for successful IPOs that opened in mid-2017. CEOs share their experiences of going public, what is fueling IPOs, and tips for others thinking about making this important next step.

Creating unique cultures that motivate your inherently diverse teams for the long haul to FDA approval is the secret to recruitment and retention in pharma where competition for highly skilled workers is fierce. It is also the key to achieving high performance and employee satisfaction.

Chronic pressure is a way of life for those starting pharmaceutical companies. It’s a life filled with rounds of funding, investor demands, performance deadlines, and possible compound failures. But what if the technology owned by a startup drug discovery company was suddenly in demand by some of the world’s largest food and beverage corporations? What if that opportunity gives you the flexibility and time to conduct your research on your own timetable?

Ask life sciences industry leaders and experts about blockchain and you will hear it called everything from “a game changer” to “a major disrupter.” According to the hype, the technology behind cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, is going to completely transform day-to-day operations for life sciences companies.

As the biotech sector in the U.S. continues to grow, it is doing so not just in hubs, but in smaller places like New Hampshire — where some of the state’s biopharma entrepreneurs say: “Smaller is better.”